The NIHR Research Support Service (RSS) Hub and Specialist Centre for Public Health delivered by the University of Southampton and Partners is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to assist researchers preparing research proposals for submission to national, peer-reviewed funding competitions for applied health or social care research. Priority will be given to supporting proposals to be submitted to a NIHR scheme.

RSS staff have the knowledge and expertise to advise on a wide range of research-related issues, including in particular all aspects of research design and methodology. We can also advise on issues such as involving patients and public, identifying resources and dissemination plans. Although one RSS adviser will take the lead in coordinating support, other RSS staff may become involved to bring complementary skills, and we have a wide range of other contacts in academic and clinical disciplines to facilitate any necessary additional input where required.

Pre-Award support
Pre-award support is offered to people who are in the process of developing a funding application for a national, open and peer-reviewed health or social care research funding competition. Researchers can be at any stage of the application process (from the initial development of a research idea/question, or considering which funding body might be most suitable – all the way through to needing a pre-submission review for a nearly-complete funding application). With the exception of our post-award support service (see below), the RSS is unable to offer support to researchers who have already received funding for their research.

Researchers must* be applying to a national, open and peer-reviewed health or social care research funding competition:

• National: A funding competition open to the whole country (or the whole world) – i.e. not a competition that is limited to people from a certain region or organisation.
• Open: A funding competition that is not limited to a small subset of people – i.e. not a competition that is limited to people from a certain organisation or membership of certain group. (A funding competition can be considered to be “open” if it is limited to a broad group of people, e.g. perhaps it is limited to a professional group, such as physiotherapists, pharmacists, or nurses, etc.)
  Peer reviewed: The funding competition should have a process where they only award funding after a peer review has taken place. (A peer review process is where experts in the subject field assess the proposal and give their recommendations on its suitability (usually to a funding panel)). Having a peer-review process in place ensures the applications are rigorously examined and decisions are made free from bias.
• *There are exceptions to the above, especially if you are a public health researcher. Please email us to check: nihr-rss@soton.ac.uk

Post-award support
We offer advice on the post-award delivery of your research. However, this offer is only available to researchers who have received pre-award support from the RSS for the same project. The post-award advice must be a continuation of the pre-award support already received by the researcher.

We do not support Global Health research
Due to the remit from our governing body (the National Institute for Health and Care Research), we cannot offer any support for Global Health Research. Please contact the NIHR directly for any queries around Global Health research.

Our services are offered free of charge
Our services are free of charge, but it is useful to give some examples of situations where we are not able to provide support free of charge:

• the development of projects for which there is no intention to submit a grant application to a recognised funder as described above
• actually doing the research; if required this would need to be costed into the project grant bid, and it would also depend upon available research capacity and the interests of host institutions
• formal supervision or informal support for students
• any aspect of activities that are not research, e.g. audit, satisfaction surveys
• conducting unfunded analysis on data already collected.

If you are in any doubt about eligibility, please contact us to discuss your situation: nihr-rss@soton.ac.uk

You can expect to gain access to a professional service in a timely manner. You may approach the RSS at any stage of development of a research proposal: from simply wanting to discuss an initial idea through to requesting input on a specific issue relating to a well-developed proposal. The earlier you approach us, the more comprehensive our advice can be. There may be occasions when capacity issues mean we cannot cater for requests with short turnaround times.

You can contact the RSS in person, by telephone, by email or by post to discuss the services we offer. In order to access our support, you will need to submit an online support request.

• Professional advice about aspects of developing a grant application and practical support for such development, free of charge. Advice will be given to all projects that have potential to achieve funding and advice will be provided throughout the submission process
• Face-to-face meetings at a mutually convenient time and venue and/or other forms of communication as appropriate
• Support in co-ordinating the process of proposal development, as required
• Advice on drafting relevant sections of proposals, as required
• Support in identifying and approaching other potential lay and professional collaborators, as required
• Support in identifying a suitable NIHR funding stream and advising on its application processes. If not eligible for NIHR funding we will try to provide advice on other potential funding bodies depending on local knowledge
• Support for obtaining appropriate user and carer involvement in project development
• In the case of unsuccessful applications, support with deciding what to do next
• All discussions regarding the proposal to be treated with appropriate confidentiality

• Use the RSS only for eligible purposes
• Carefully consider proffered advice, discussing as necessary and accepting such advice except where there are compelling reasons not to do so
• Ensure that the research team includes input from NHS staff and lay person(s)
• Where RSS staff are invited, and agree to be grant co-applicants, include appropriate costs in the grant to cover any work they will undertake in the conduct, analysis and reporting of the project (please note that there is no expectation that RSS advisers will be co-applicants on the applications RSS supports)
• Accurately reflect the nature of RSS involvement and support in the relevant section of the grant application (RSS staff can provide you with a reminder of input given by RSS)
• Provide RSS with a copy of any completed, submitted application in which RSS support has been involved
• Inform RSS of the funding committee’s decision.

Updated 29 September 2023